NGMA to be launched in March, curtains likely for piracy

PTIFeb 15, 2004, 03.01pm IST

KOCHI: In an effort to combat illegal usage and piracy in digital media and become the outsourcing partner of entertainment industry, a techno-media company -- NextGen Media Alliances Pvt Ltd (NGMA) -- will be launched nationwide in March.

NGMA, comprising of a group of IT and Media professionals, is aimed at intergrating IT solutions with the entertainment media while securing digital media content flow to curtail illegal usage and piracy, NGMA Director (Business Development), Jai S Rajgopal, told PTI in an interview here.

It would also become the preferred outsourcing partner for the industry with regards to digital and electronic distribution for a world-wide market, he said.

From musicians to movie producers to television broadcast companies, NGMA's portfolio of offerings will be aimed at tackling issues faced by the entertainment industry in the area of Digital Rights Management (DRM), E-publishing and Copyright Infringement, he said, adding it was a new concept in India.

Rajgopal said he had already roped in singers Shubha Mudgal and Hariharan, Malayalam film directors Jairaj, Faisal and Lal, and singer-composer Kaithaparam and Vishwanath. NGMA has also tied up with some film producers and record labels.

He has also met officals of SIMCA (South India Music company Association) in Chennai and the Indian Music Industry (IMI) in Mumbai and the concept had been well received by the industry.

Discussions have also been held with certain Hindi film lyricists, producers and artists running production houses, he added.

On the company's objectives, Rajagopal said its aim was to become the world's largest digital storehouse of audio/visual entertainment content through digital representation for the concerned contents and legalising their sale.

NGMA focuses not only on making sure the user has access to a large database of superior quality, full length digital entertainment, but also aims at ensuring that the original producers of this artistic content benefit from the world-wide sale of their material.

Through the NGMA network, any content owner is assured that he or she would be able to keep a record of every sale made of their digital content and be assured that they shall be party to a percentage of the sale, which they have so often lost out on.

In the music industry, NGMA is targeting artists (singer/band), composers, song writers, music directors, record labels, publishers and FM radio stations, while in the field of cinema, movie producers (motion pictures, features, documentaries, television broadcast companies, media production houses, network operators and mobile manufacturers are being roped in.

Among the services being offered by NGMA are encoding large volume of any pre-recorded video/audio content into standard digital output for distribution over wireless and fixed networks and Digital Media distribution, Rajagopal said.

Plans are also in the offing to promote individual upcoming singers.

NGMA has also tied up with Escotel, the largest mobile service provider in Kerala, for providing exclusive entertainment content on their network.